So a thread about original super-hero games got me thinking about one I pitched a few years back that didn't get off the ground. Although it seemed to get lost in the shuffle there, I thought I'd give it one more shot on it's own...

In brief...

It's the 1980's and thus far the world has been protected by a small number of independent super-heroes. This hasn't sat too well with the US government, who would prefer a group they can control. So allied with various members of the arms, pharmaceutical, and marketing industries, they create their own team of heroes... the Superiors.

So the idea behind this would be to present the lives of these would-be heroes. Now not all of them would be all that heroic. Some would be picked for their loyalty to the powers that be or their popularity with the public. And with so many masters, their deeds might not always be that good. If you've ever read The Boys, that's sort of the feel I'm looking at.

In not-so-brief...

In the early part of the 20th century, people thought they had seen it all. Every corner had been discovered and even the sky had been tamed by humanity. Then in 1933, Professor Caliban came to public attention. This enigmatic world traveler stunned even the most jaded with reports of his inhuman strength and seeming invulnerability. Four years later, an urban legend began being whispered amongst the underworld about a shadowy figure known as the Hooded Owl who preyed up criminals. Both strange figures remained somewhat out of the public, either off in some hidden corner of the globe or in the darkest of alleyways. Then World War II broke out. At first it seemed that both Caliban and the Owl weren't involving themselves in the combat. But then the duo interrupted an occult ceremony being performed by Nazi mystics. Their goal had been to summon a Valkyrie and bind her to their control. But Prof Caliban and the Hooded Owl stopped this and the battle maiden called Valkyrja joined them in a paranormal strike team nicknamed the First Force.

For decades the First Force had many adventures and battle various menaces. Prof Caliban and Valkyrja seemed ageless. The Hooded Owl did as well but the original had secretly passed his mantle to a successor. They were willing to aid the US government until the 1960's. During that decade, the treatment of civil rights demonstrators and the bloodshed in Southeast Asia soured the First Force's relationship with Washington. Prof Caliban decided to concentrate on his private space exploration program. Valkyrja relocated to Europe. The Hooded Owl simply went back to the shadows. With such valuable assets lost to them, members of the American government decided to create their own wonders, ones completely under their command. They contracted long-time arms manufacturer Aegis Industries and a cutting edge biotech firm called Next-Gen to develop such beings.

Project Prometheus, as the operation was dubbed, soon realized their goal would not be achieved overnight. It would takes years of research. In the meantime, the discoveries they made en route made Aegis Industries and Next-Gen global players in the world of economics. Things finally came to a head in the early 1980's. The reason was the return of the First Force to public attention. Prof Caliban successfully flew a spacecraft to Mars and back. The Hooded Owl (actually the third) prevented an assassination attempt on the president. Valkyrja led various reform efforts in Eastern Europe. The US government felt they had reached another Sputnik moment. Luckily they were within a few years of finally achieving their goal. But they needed more than super-powered beings, they needed heroes. So a fourth member was brought into the mix, the international marketing firm Image Nation. Image Nation helped select just who would make up this team as well as creating their look and their name... the Superiors. And in 1986, the world was finally ready to find out just who these Superiors are.

The Superiors work for the US government but in the capacity of civilians. It was decided that any sort of direct military or law enforcement connection might make the public uneasy. In addition, the source of the team's powers is classified. The cover story is that they all acquired their abilities independently and the government has been kind enough to help train and support them. Hoping to ease the burden on the taxpayer, three major corporations help fund the Superiors. It can be guessed what those three are. What the public doesn't know is that the Superiors return the favor in other ways besides photo-ops. All in all, the Superiors are a team with plenty of skeletons in the closet... and some people want to find out what those are.

I'm either very interested or not interested at all, heh. The difference is in whether this is a story-driven RP or just a sandbox for players to run around and get lost in. If this is a game where the GM directs the background - either through missions or presenting situations to players frequently enough to give a storyline then I'm extremely interested. If on the other hand this is a sandbox where the GM takes a hands-off approach and just lets the players get on with whatever in a sort of aimless meandering piece then no. Can you be more specific as to your aim?

I'm either very interested or not interested at all, heh. The difference is in whether this is a story-driven RP or just a sandbox for players to run around and get lost in. If this is a game where the GM directs the background - either through missions or presenting situations to players frequently enough to give a storyline then I'm extremely interested. If on the other hand this is a sandbox where the GM takes a hands-off approach and just lets the players get on with whatever in a sort of aimless meandering piece then no. Can you be more specific as to your aim?

Story driven. The characters will be at the beck and call of their various masters in both the government and business world. So they will have missions, although some of them might be less altruistic than others. The overall aim is to do a story contrasting idealism with reality in a world with super-heroes. The temptations of power and fame.

If peeps are still up for it, here's a sheet...

Superiors Application

Code Name:Real Name:Description: (pics are nice, me likely visuals)

Powers/Skills/Gadgets: (not everyone has to have powers per se, training and nifty gadget supplied by Aegis works too)

Qualifications: (why the Superiors want you)

Motivations: (why you want to be a Superior and live your life the way you do)

Personality:

History:

Vices/Secrets: (you don't have to have any and the magnitude is up to you but it fits the theme of the game to have some personal demons)

You can post your Superior here or PM me. Likewise for any questions/suggestions. Go ahead and take your time. I ouchied myself so I'm not gonna be diving right into this for a few days at least.

Powers/Skills/Gadgets: Dimension Manipulation in that he unknowingly pulls the things he imagines from a pocket dimension where his creations are created and then replaced when he is done with them. So think Green Lantern with no ring because everything he creates is actually real but he doesn't know that.

Qualifications: Loyalty... he is a company man and if it helps make the US stronger and more powerful he is willing to help as long as they let him drink and sleep with who he wants he is their guy.

Motivations: to get the money, to get the power, to get the girls, to live the lifestyle? Sign me up!

Personality: Gabe loves the idea of being a super hero he is pretty good at it too and he loves the idea of being a celebrity Gabe thinks he is a gift to the people but then again isn't he? Mission comes first but when its done that's the time to party heck its the 80's isn't it? He brings the burn bright and most likely burn out soon style to the table.

History: There isn't much that makes Gabe stand out from your normal Average America living the dream. He was a good student in high school participated in after school activities and even had a date to the prom. Gabe got a taste of the party life in college and so his grades wavered but he did well. He was recruited by a private information brokerage firm to be an information analyst right out of college and turned that into a successful career and life as an author. Gabe isn't in the military but as an author and an analyst Gabe would often be called on by the government to give his opinion on things like 'if this Russian government official said this but then did this was he really going to end up doing this?' During the cold war times governments loved to hear speculation from people that sounded as if they knew what they were talking about, and Gabe was happy to oblige. At only 29 Gabe has had three successful books and spends plenty of time hob knobbing with big businesses, clandestine groups and military branches researching his next book and of course promoting that the US is the best damn country in the world! The idea was brought up that since Gabe already knew all the right people maybe he would be willing to help the government keep track of a company's work and help the company create a new supersuit. A technology firm was trying to perfect quantum technology that relied on a wormhole phenomenon. they had harnessed that technology into a suit to research teleportation but refused to allow full government involvement believing that they would steal or misuse the power. They did however agree to use a third party civilian that could be trusted by both sides. The test did not work out as planned the suit had been tested as best they could with no one in it but once Gabe was in it all hell broke lose. After about 10 seconds Gabe blacked out and the wormhole energy seemed to dissipate from the suit when Gabe woke up two months later and after a series of test he found out that he had gained his powers.

Vices/Secrets: He has an addictive personality and this could potentially lead to big issues. Sex, Drugs, Alcohol, Gambling?

From the opening scenario it looks like The Hooded Owl (Batman), Valkyrja (Wonder Woman), and Prof Caliban (Superman, or even Dr. Manhattan?) are the marks the companies and government are trying to match. Is that correct?

Powers/Skills/Gadgets: (not everyone has to have powers per se, training and nifty gadget supplied by Aegis works too)Bennie was experimented on with many different chemicals, none of which showed any effect. Then, one day, something weird happened. Angry at the doctor examining him following the latest experiment he started to wish the doctor harm. At first he didn't realise what was happening, but he felt like his mind was awash with a strange chemical, his vision even had little bubbles of a chemical formula swimming before it, one he did not recognize. And the doctor grabbed his belly. Not knowing what was happening, Bennie focused both on the formula and the doctor, watching as the man collapsed and began to cough blood. The doctor, it turned out later, had suffered severe gastro-intestinal bleeding and there was no obvious cause.

Over time, Bennie and his minders learned that somehow he had become able to tap into the mystical realm of drugs, draw on the powers of drugs, and inflict any and multiple side effects on other - magnifying them however he wanted. When he drew out the forumula he'd seen that first time, they recognized it as Pradaxa, a drug known to potentially cause internal bleeding. Over time he increased his power until he can wilfully inflict any number of specific drug effects or side effects, increased or decreased to any degree, on miltiple people. It's a power they recognized immediately as worth more than his weight in gold.

Qualifications: (why the Superiors want you) Because he can do anything from outright murder someone to make them so susceptible to suggestion that the will betray their darkest secrets to their worst enemies.

Motivations: (why you want to be a Superior and live your life the way you do) That had always been the problem. Bennie had been taken from his home and his family, he had been experimented on from childhood... and he had turned sour and cynical. He was far more attuned to hatred than love, to nonchalance than caring. They had to find some way to control him, and so they managed to give him an addiction to a drug that only they controlled. Each day he gets "just enough" and the person administering it neither has access to more nor knowledge of where to get more. In order to stay alive and not be driven to suicide by his own addiction, he must serve his masters. Of course, this fact doesn't help his personality any...

Personality: Cynical, uncaring, merciless, prone to occasional bouts of depression, distrusting, sarcastic, often cruel, selfish. There is a word that many would use to describe him: Evil. Of course, what he really is is a product of what was, and continues to be, done to him. Whether this will ever change is another matter.

History: Detailed above.

Vices/Secrets: (you don't have to have any and the magnitude is up to you but it fits the theme of the game to have some personal demons) Vengeful nastiness - and since he cannot attack the organization he will willingly attack their victims, tendency to inflict the more "positive" aspects of drugs on himself when he has downtime, sees others for what he can get from them, prone to addictive behaviours - sex, gambling, sadomasochism etc...

From the opening scenario it looks like The Hooded Owl (Batman), Valkyrja (Wonder Woman), and Prof Caliban (Superman, or even Dr. Manhattan?) are the marks the companies and government are trying to match. Is that correct?

Nothing hard and fast on power levels. Something in the neighborhood of a member of the New Teen Titans, Infinity Inc, the Detroit-era,JLA, etc.

The government wants to match the First Force in popularity and respect from the public, not necessarily power level. Prof Caliban is sort of a cross between Doc Savage and Hugo Danner .

For years the scientists of Aegis worked to build a powered suit of armor. A super soldier weapon that could be taken into the field and provide total protection with superior battle prowess for every man. For years they worked on this project and failed due to a lack of sufficient power. The systems were too bulky and unreliable, the weakness of the armor too glaring as a simple glance to the power source would disable the suit. Many pilots died in their mechanical coffins until word reached their ears of a woman that generated her own power. A woman whose body generated vast quantities of psychic potential energy, but who was currently imprisoned under direction of the United Nations. Strings were pulled, research was done and the suit was adjusted for her. Scientists were confident they could advance the research further if only the subject could be pulled from prison. Aegis worked miracles to have her transferred to an offsite prison where she could be interrogated, broken and made to heel.

Dedika Tsitvia, known terrorist and murderer, soon became the singular pilot and operator of an immensely powerful weapon. Able to produce vast quantities of psychic power, the suit was redesigned to disperse that energy from her body and into its own power reserves. The suit allows this energy to manifest as advanced combat systems, enhanced physical attributes and to power potent weaponry only rarely seen on the modern battlefield.

Qualifications:

The Superiors ultimately want Dedika due to her unique abilities and their handicap. She makes an ideal candidate as well due to her extensive history as a terrorist and guerilla fighter. Her resourceful in combat, her ruthless nature and her elusiveness are all well documented. The fact that the government holds over her a virtual death sentence, not to mention an actual one, makes her all the easier to direct and manage. Dedika is nothing if not a survivor.

Motivations:

Dedika wants to live and survive. An implanted device at her cervical spine has been set, the control given over to an unknown party. She has been assured that a simple press of the button will end her life. Outside of that there is still the prison sentence, vast international enemies and the threat of a legitimate death sentence hanging over her head. Better to serve so far as she sees than be dead.

Personality:

Practical and cold, Dedika walks a very thin line toward being a sociopath. That she empathizes with causes and feels passionately for the freedom of mankind is all that brings her back toward the center. Still she has seen and done much that calls into question her ability to feel compassion or remorse. Brutal and efficient, she has performed acts that make even the most hardened soldier cringe. Trained by death squads across the world, shown tactics from terror units and psychologists and pushed to an edge where only warped minds survived there is question as to whether she can be brought back to a semblance of normal.

History:

Vices/Secrets:

According to official records the operator of the Aegis suit is a woman named Angela Banks. A decorated pilot and service woman with the United States Air Force, she suffered a tragic accident that left her without the ability to speak. Surgery had to be done to help reconstruct her face and body. Her dedication to the Aegis Suit and the Superiors Project though has led to her being brought back into service as the permanent pilot. Any rumors that a known terrorist and anarchist is piloting the suit are conjecture brought about by the Russian government to slander the name of the United States government.

Dedika also has a sister that shows herself as the perfect twin in terms of power. A powerful entity of psychic ability, her sister bears the code name Mecca. She must draw psychic energy from living creatures, but the displays of power so far have been immense from massive mind control to the crushing of a tank. Dedika does not know her sister is still alive and reports do not list her them as sisters. There are suspicions about what would happen if the pair were brought together, however; as Dedika is a virtually limitless source of energy for Mecca to draw upon.

For vices, Dedika has few. A woman of dedication and focus, she puts herself fully into her work. Yet without direction she can spiral into sex and alcohol, wanting more to forget what has been done.

Edit 2: Alright, here we go! Paragon has been chosen and worked on in order to make a squeaky clean superheroine that would be popular amongst the most people as possible. She's got the whole American Dream angle of being from a poor family of immigrants and suddenly having superpowers, and doing good for her country. Also helps that she's cute, and naturally a kind and charismatic person. Basically, she's a superhero that'd have her face plastered over all the teen magazines, and used to make special appearances when available.

Code Name: ParagonReal Name: Erin O'BrianDescription:

Physical Looks

Erin is an Irish-American teenaged girl, standing at about 5'2" and 110 pounds soaking wet. Her skin is pale with very light freckling on her chest, cheeks, and nose; and her eyes are a bright blue. She keeps her fire-red hair long and straight, reaching down to just above the small of her back. Her entire body is rather lean, with slight curves to her hips and bottom, and firm (but modestly sized) breasts. PR suggests we push the 'girl next door' vibe when possible, for public appearances.

Costume

As above, a little more conservative (Read: Less T&A) to increase public opinion with the conservatives and kids, with a stars and stripes-themed cape. Opinion polls suggested an 'America' motiff would be well-received by the public at large, considering Paragon's public dossier.

Powers/Skills/Gadgets: Paragon had a slight psychic potential even before Project Prometheus. Thanks to a number of cranial and spinal implants her psychic potential has been fully unleashed. Publically she is touted as having the standard suite of super strength, invulnerability, and flight, when in actuality it's all a result of tactile telekinesis. Paragon reflexively surrounds her body in a paper-thin invisible bubble of force, allowing her to take blows that would crush cars and give back just as good. Likewise by moving the bubble around her she carries herself about in an illusion of true comic-book style flight. Her telekinetic control doesn't help with gasses and air normally though, due to her need to be able to breath, and it takes genuine effort to focus on strengthening her field against high-yield attacks and temperature extremes. While she does have Telepathy as well, it's nowhere near as powerful as her telekinesis. Should be useful for reading surface thoughts and keeping the team 'connected' without a need for radio communication though. Sadly, her inexperience and former medical conditions have left her woefully under-trained. She's being given hand-to-hand training in addition to her online courses to finish out her senior year of high school (as well as instruct her on subjects deemed useful by her handlers) but progress is slow.

Qualifications: Medical tests revealed her psychic potential, making her a prime candidate for new Superior-related experiments by Project Prometheus. In addition, her looks and general personality, as well as her 'story', made her PR gold according to Image Nation reps. With minimal effort, she could be turned into a good public figurehead for the Superiors.

Motivations: Erin is a bit of an idealist, so the opportunity to become a superheroine like the amazing Valkyrja is a dream come true! On top of that, Next-Gen 'kindly' took care of her earlier hospital debts and woke her up from her coma, so Erin feels indebted to Project Prometheus for that. Really, it didn't take much work at all to get her to go 110% for the Superiors! Suspiciously so, actually.

Personality: Erin O'Brian is a cheerful, charismatic, empathetic young woman. She's a surprisingly social person, always willing to get in the middle of a problem and help fix it, or just lend a helping hand wherever necessary. A very physical person she's a huge fan of making contact when talking, and taking the 'actions are louder than words' route, as well as always being willing to give a fan a gentle hug or sign an autograph. In the end she's just a wonderful, delightful girl . . . with crippling self-esteem problems. Her early struggles in life have not given her the best self-image, so she actively works to try and be an idealized version of herself, sometimes even copying other peoples' mannerism and habits if she sees them being more accepted than her. She craves attention and affection, making her overly eager to please those she considers her betters.

History: Erin O'Brian didn't have the best childhood, growing up as the only child of poor Irish immigrants. As a first generation American it was her family's hope that she'd have all the opportunities in the world in America, only for her body to effectively ruin that. As a child she suffered from chronic migraines, blackouts, and poor health in general. While she made her best efforts at school her health continued to hold her back, and medical fees began to quickly pile up. This wasn't exactly a good thing for a poor struggling family that could barely make ends meet. Stress made relations sour between her parents, which Erin immediately considered her fault, causing her physical and mental health to drop even more until one day she actually had a seizure in the middle of class and ended up in a coma. The various medical examinations and tests on her eventually triggered some flags for Next-Gen, who began to take an interest in the young girl's mysterious case. After confirming that she indeed have the signs of a psychic and surmising that her conditions were made worse because of her emotional state, the businessmen and scientists tricked her parents into signing consent forms for experimental treatments to heal the girl's 'ailments'. Some very dangerous chemical injections, and more than a few cranial implants later, and the girl woke up to applauding Next-Gen scientists giving themselves pats on the back and enjoying champagne. After all, they'd just managed to wake up a coma patient who would died without their help, and awakened her psychic potential. The girl was given a . . tastefully edited version of what had happened to suit their needs, and offered the chance to be a part of Project Prometheus as a chance to 'pay off her debts' and do some good in the world. The poor girl bought everything hook line and sinker as she was meant to, and became the newest member of the Superiors, Paragon!

Her public dossier glazes over the important details, instead painting her as a poor immigrant's daughter who developed superpowers after waking up from a coma like a miracle, and deciding to use her powers to help keep her homeland safe and make people happy.

Vices/Secrets: Unknown to everyone but some of her handlers, and higher rankers of the various corporations, Erin O'Brian's mind isn't her own. Through a combination of extra implants, chemical treatments, and outright hypnosis she has been 'programmed' with several trigger phrases to cause her to act in certain ways for her handlers. There are triggers to cause her to forget things, to act obediantly to her superiors, and even override her normally kind personality in order to get her to use lethal force in a situation she wouldn't want to. She has no idea about this, and has been programmed to not attempt to read the minds of her handlers so as to not risk stumbling across this information. It's difficult for her mind to do the mental gymnastics necessary to explain missing time though, so her programmed commands need to be used . . . delicately. Hasn't stopped certain people from taking advantage of this in . . interesting ways, though.